Davis homers in 12th as Athletics top Orioles 2-0

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Khris Davis took a “pitchers’ ballgame” into his own hands.

Davis homered in the 12th inning, lifting the Oakland Athletics to a 2-0 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday night.

Jed Lowrie singled with one out before Davis drove a 3-1 fastball from Pedro Araujo (1-3) into the bleachers in left. It was Davis’ third career game-ending homer.

“He went 3-0 and I took a strike to see a strike, and he came back with another fastball and I put a good swing on it,” Davis said.

“I was looking for a fastball.”

It was the first time in franchise history that Oakland won a scoreless extra-inning game on a game-ending home run.

Chris Hatcher (3-0) got two outs for the win, finishing the A’s seven-hitter. Trevor Cahill got the start and struck out 12 while pitching six innings of four-hit ball.

Oakland won for the seventh time in eight home games and the 12th time in 18 games overall.

Baltimore wasted a terrific performance by Kevin Gausman in its fifth straight loss. The Orioles dropped to 3-15 on the road.

“It was hard to get a rhythm, it just felt like a pitchers’ ballgame,” Davis said. “It was one of those days we just battled and chipped away. Not much chipping but I’m just glad to come out on top.”

Gausman pitched a career-high nine innings of two-hit ball. He struck out six and walked two.

“It’s tough,” Gausman said. “Any pitcher will say if you go nine innings you expect to win the game. We have to keep grinding. We need to do something to get things rolling. We get guys on base and they kind of stay there.”

Cahill became the third A’s pitcher to strike out 12 or more in six innings or less. Steve Karsay struck out 12 on April 26, 1997, and Vida Blue struck out 13 against Kansas City on April 9, 1971.

Cahill hadn’t reached double digits in strikeouts since matching a career high with 10 for the third time on June 14, 2013, for Arizona against the San Diego Padres.

“A game like today, personally, it was a really close low-scoring game, it was a good time to just kind of go for the strikeout,” Cahill said. “In a close game like that one pitch could be” the difference.

Cahill was among five A’s pitchers who combined for 20 strikeouts, tied for third-most in Oakland history.

“Everybody on the mound came with their A-game today,” A’s catcher Bruce Maxwell said. “We executed and it paid off.”

The A’s were hitless over a stretch of nine innings between Bruce Maxwell’s one-out single in the third and Lowrie’s hit in the 12th.

Baltimore’s Mark Trumbo doubled and took third on a wild pitch with one out in the fourth. He was the only player for either team to reach third until Davis’ home run.

Before Davis’ ninth homer, the A’s never advanced a runner past first.

The Orioles were 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position.

HE SAID

“(Gausman) was outstanding. His changeup was there for him. He had his best fastball in the last inning. Both (starting) pitchers were outstanding, that’s why you saw a lot of goose eggs.” — Orioles manager Buck Showalter.

MILESTONE

Trumbo went 2 for 5 in his 1,000th game.

SPECIAL DAY FOR MANAEA

The A’s will give out Sean Manaea bobbleheads on Sept. 21 commemorating the 26-year-old left-hander’s no-hitter last month. Manaea’s April 21 no-hitter against the Boston Red Sox was the team’s seventh since moving to Oakland and the 12th in franchise history.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Orioles: 2B Jonathan Schoop, on the DL since April 14 with a strained oblique, was pulled in the top of the sixth inning of a rehab assignment game with Double-A Bowie because of bad weather. He’s continuing his rehab assignment with Triple-A Norfolk. Schoop flew out to Norfolk on Saturday morning and played a full nine innings later in the day. Showalter hopes to activate Schoop by Tuesday. … Closer Zach Britton (right Achilles surgery) took fielding practice on Saturday. Showalter said the next step for him is throwing live BP “but we’re not there yet.” … OF Adam Jones was hit by a pitch from Santiago Casilla on his right wrist with one out in the 10th but stayed in the game but will have X-rays.